1. Field the of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunication; and more particularly, methods for transferring packet switched communication to circuit switched.
2. Description of Related Art
When a mobile station moves within a wireless network, one communication station (e.g., base station, etc.) may transfer (e.g., according to well-known call handoff procedures) the communication needs of the mobile station to another communication station in the network. To the mobile station user, this transition is seamless in that the communication from and to the mobile station is substantially uninterrupted.
However, no mechanism currently exists for providing such a seamless transition when the mobile station moves from a network or portion of a network providing packet switched communication (e.g., Voice-over-IP or VoIP) to a different network or portion of a same network that cannot maintain a packet switched call, for example, due to unavailability of appropriate network resources for packet switch communication, but including appropriate resources for circuit switched. This situation is expected to be common during a transition period while packet switched systems with sufficient QoS support are being deployed but are not yet available ubiquitously. Currently, the packet switched call must be terminated, and a separate circuit switched call manually established on the second network. As a result, a significant gap in communication flow with the mobile station occurs. In some cases it may not even be possible to establish another call between the same parties from a circuit switched network, for example, when the end point in the packet switched network is not known by or associated with a telephone number.